


I Can See You're Real Smart, World Class Piece of Art

by cosim18



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alive Allison Argent, Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - No Werewolves, F/F, F/M, Promiscuous Stiles Stilinski
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-15
Updated: 2018-08-27
Packaged: 2018-11-01 05:11:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,269
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10915005
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cosim18/pseuds/cosim18
Summary: After transferring to Beacon Hills High School following an accident that left her with only her father, Malia Tate has a lot of adjusting to do. When Lydia Martin, resident genius and queen bee, is assigned to be Malia's tutor, things get interesting.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I thought I'd try something a little different, writing something not set in the regular universe of Teen Wolf.
> 
> I can be found at gaycoyotes.tumblr.com

“You ever run track? I mean, you have excellent muscle definition.” The teacher asked as they descended the steps.

“Uh, weird thing to say, but yeah. I ran for my last school before we moved.”

“Excellent. Think about joining our team, I’m the head coach of all athletic activities, so I’ll be able to get you a good spot on the team. Totally your choice, but we could use someone like you. Now listen, when it comes to classes, we’re gonna start off slow. You know, a few classes here and there. Just to get you caught up to speed before the next year starts. I’ve heard the guidance office has also set up a personal tutor for you, to help you get more acquainted with the other students.”

“Sounds reasonable,” Malia responded, not really paying attention. As they were walking down the hallway, she happened to catch the eye of a cute redhead and smiled, hoping that maybe adjusting to this new town wouldn’t be so bad. That hope was dashed, however, when the girl narrowed her eyes and turned away to continue talking to her companion. Shaking her head, Malia scoffed as she realized that this high school likely wouldn’t be much different from her old one. The hot, popular students ruled the school and people like her were left to just grin and bear until graduation.

“Now today is just going to be like an audit. You won’t be expected to participate or anything, you’re just here to see how things go, and after this class, I’ll come back to finish up your transfer paperwork.” The coach was nice, but Malia could tell he had plenty of other things that needed to be done even before he was lumped with a new student. The school budget must have been dreadfully low if a coach and economics teacher had to be the one to show a new student the ropes. She didn’t say as much, knowing how stressed they both were, so she just nodded before ducking into the classroom in front of her, taking up a seat in the back.

The next forty-five minutes dragged by, with the teacher dryly discussing internment camps in WWII. Guess there isn’t really a cheerful way to talk about such an important piece of history. Malia hadn’t brought any supplies with her to doodle with, and the teacher had expressly told the class that cell phones were prohibited during lectures, so she just twiddled her thumbs and spaced out. She barely even noticed the bell ring, signaling the end of class, until she felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned, looking up to see three unfamiliar faces, all smiling with different degrees of sincerity.

“Hi!” The one girl in the group exclaimed. “My name’s Kira, I see that you’re new?” Her face exuded sunshine, and she looked legitimately happy.

“Uh, yeah. I’m Malia, just transferred here today. Monday will be my first full day, but Coach Finstock wanted me to sit in on a class today while he works on paperwork. Apparently, he chose one of the most boring ones for me to sit in on, but at least it’s not algebra.” She stood, leaning up against the wall behind her, and made a face at the mention of math. Even though she’d never transferred before, she figured the best way to make new friends was to complain about something.

“That’s awesome. I know what it’s like to be the new girl, my whole family moved down here just last year. And the teacher is actually my dad,” she said, her face getting a little red.

“Oh, I’m sorry! I mean, he is still dull, but I didn’t mean to insult your family,” Malia tried to recover.

“Don’t be sorry, Mr. Yukimura called out his daughter on her very first day and mentioned that we should all befriend her, thereby embarrassing her for the rest of the school year. As a teacher he  _ can  _ be a bit boring, but this is probably the easiest class you’ll take so it’s not too bad,” one of the boys spoke up. “I’m Stiles, by the way.” He gave a lopsided smile and held out his hand for her to shake and Malia felt a wave of relief as she didn’t mess up making potential new friends. Taking her hand, he motioned with his other one to the boy standing next to him. “And this is Scott McCall, our little group’s hottest member. All the rest of the school’s cliques fear us because we got him.” Malia felt her eyebrows knit together in confusion as she turned her head to actually look at Scott. 

“Don’t mind him,” he said, smiling brightly. “He’s just jealous because I wouldn’t break up with Kira to go out with him.”

“Are you joking? Sorry, I can’t really tell,” Malia said slowly. Her eyes roamed over the three people in front of her.

“No, unfortunately, he’s not. I came out as bisexual last semester right before these two little lovebirds _officially_ got together and I made a fool of myself when I asked Scotty boy here out. Little did I know that these guys were smooching it up earlier that night and Scott decided to wait until after I professed my love for him to tell me he was taken. Asshole,” Stiles finished, but Malia could tell by his smirk that he was just putting on a show of being upset.

“Anyway,” Kira interjected, feeling embarrassed about being part of why the conversation kept going on. “The point of me introducing us is that we have decided to adopt you into our little friend group! Unless, of course, you found a better group to hang out with.” That last statement seemed to be spoken with a slight amount of seriousness and Malia couldn’t help but feel bad that they might think she’d want to be friends with anyone else.

“Nope, you guys are stuck with me now. I’ve only semi interacted with one other student and they were nowhere near as nice as you, so consider me a part of your group now.” Malia gave them a big smile before hearing someone clear their throat behind her. She spun, seeing the Coach in the doorway.

“C’mon, let’s finish up your stuff so you can officially be a part of BHHS.” Malia turned back to her new friends and gave a little wave.

“See you guys on Monday!” she said and headed out the door.

“So I see you made some friends before your first day, that’s good. They’re good eggs, those three.” He had a proud smile on his face and Malia asked what he meant. “I’ve been teaching and coaching the two guys, Scott and Stiles, since they were freshmen. They may not be the best on the team but they’ve got plenty of school spirit and they always show up. And they make class interesting,” he said with a wink. “Yukimura’s a good student, don’t know about her athletic abilities.” The last part was said more to himself, and Malia couldn’t help but feel like he tried to scout the school’s athletes from his students.

“Anyway,” he said as they arrived at his office. “Your assigned tutor is here to discuss your meeting schedule and you’ll be good to go.” He motioned with his arm for Malia to go ahead of him and she almost stopped when she saw who was sitting at the desk, leaning back to take a selfie.

It was the redheaded girl from earlier.

“Oh, hi. You must be my tutor,” Malia managed to say, feeling her face flush slightly. She warily took a seat as far from the girl as possible. Her old school was even more full of cliques than what Malia could tell about Beacon Hills, but she still knew to tread carefully when it came to the people who clearly ruled the school. Say one wrong thing and you could end up on the lowest rung of the social ladder.

“It looks that way,” the girl responded, finally putting her phone away. The tone of her voice very clearly indicated that she wanted to be here as much as Malia. “Lydia Martin. And what do they call you?”

“Malia,” she said. She wasn’t sure what else there was to say, but thankfully Coach stepped back in.

“So, you guys will need to set up a structured tutoring schedule and keep a log of it for the school’s record. Malia, once you’re caught up enough with the rest of your class you can decide if you need further sessions. And Lydia, your service learning hours will be fulfilled once Malia has shown that your teaching skills were helpful. This is a cooperative system to benefit both of you, or something along those lines. I don’t make the rules, I just have to enforce them. We clear?” His expression looked almost pleading, like he just wanted to get out of there.

“Yep,” Malia said, resigning herself to what lie ahead. She’d never been forced to spend one-on-one time with someone as popular as Lydia.

“Yes, we’re clear,” Lydia said, her voice clipped. She was clearly annoyed about something, and Malia couldn’t imagine it was simply her own presence that irked the teenager so much. She slid a form over to Malia before she spoke again. “These are the times that work best with my schedule. Does this work for you, or will it be a problem?” Malia took the piece of paper and looked over it.

“No, this is fine. Where are we supposed to meet, though?”

“The school library. Don’t be late,” she said as she collected the bag that lay at her feet and promptly left the room. Malia couldn’t help but notice how short Lydia’s skirt was, or how high her heels were.

“Looks like everything is squared away, then,” Coach said. “Do you need anything else, or are you good to go? Your dad said he'd be waiting right out front.”

“I think I’m fine,” Malia managed to say, getting up from her chair. “Have a nice weekend, Coach.” He half-heartedly waved as she left before sitting back at his desk.

"Welcome to Beacon Hills, Ms. Tate," he called out as she walked out the door.

Malia made her way out of the building, spotting her dad and waving at him to get his attention, looking back down at the schedule Lydia had given her. Apparently, she’d be spending every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday afternoon with someone who already seemed to hate her after a five-minute conversation.

_ Of course it had to be a hot girl _ , she thought as climbed into the car.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lydia's perspective up to meeting Malia

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a sort of filler chapter as I work on plotting out the rest of the fic!

_ “Academically, Lydia's one of the finest students I've ever had. Her A.P. classes push her GPA above a 5.0. I'd actually like to have her I.Q. tested. And socially, she displays outstanding leadership qualities. I mean, she's a real leader. But when it comes to one-on-one socialization, she’s not exactly the prime example. From what I can tell, she only has two real friends, and in high school it's important to make more connections. As you’re both aware, every student is required to complete a set number of service learning hours. Because Lydia has such potential, her service learning task has been chosen for her: tutoring. There’s a new student coming tomorrow, and I’d like for her and Lydia to become study partners, so that Lydia can exercise her social skills while helping the new girl adjust to Beacon Hills. I’ll have them set up their schedule before school lets out, so that they can start as soon as possible.” _

Lydia’s parents had told her the news when they returned from the parent-teacher conferences that night, and she wasn’t exactly pleased. She knew she had added her name to the tutoring list when the assignment roster was passed around homeroom at the start of the semester, but she had been hoping they wouldn’t be able to find anyone that needed her services. She was even less excited about the fact that she’d be tutoring a new girl, someone who had no idea what the hierarchy at school was like, much less how to fit in. They were supposed to compromise on their meeting schedule the next day, but Lydia’s teacher had given her the assignment form ahead of time, and she decided to call the shots, filling in the time slots that were least unpleasant for her.

The next day, Lydia went through her classes with a slight sense of dread, knowing that she was going to have to meet with the new student at the end of the day. She didn’t even know what the girl looked like, but she hoped she wasn’t completely lacking in the fashion department. It wouldn’t do to be seen spending so much time with someone who had no idea how to showcase their assets.

Before her last class, calculus, Lydia made her way to her locker, finding Allison already waiting for her. 

“You ready?” The brunette asked, a look of pity on her face. She knew the situation Lydia had been thrown into and couldn’t help but feel bad, both for Lydia and the unsuspecting new girl. Lydia had sort of taken Allison in under her wing when she herself transferred in last year, but she knew from experience that high school was a dog eat dog world, and she had been lucky to nab Lydia as a friend. Neither was necessarily looking to broaden their inner circle, as she, Lydia, and Jackson made for the perfect intimidation trio. At least on the surface.

“As ready as I’ll ever be,” Lydia responded, grabbing her textbook out of her locker. As she turned to look at Allison, she noticed Coach Finstock walking someone down the hall, and happened to lock eyes with the girl. She actually  _ smiled  _ at Lydia. Did she not realize who she was looking at?

“That’s gotta be her,” she muttered, narrowing her eyes, turning back toward Allison.

“Who, her?” Allison questioned, knowing the answer already. Neither of them had seen the girl before, which meant that she was the one. “She’s kind of cute, actually,” she said casually, stifling a laugh when she saw the look on Lydia’s face.

“Cute? Seriously? She’s wearing the laziest outfit possible - jeans and a t-shirt. And I didn’t see a scrap of makeup on her face.” Lydia had a look of distaste on her face, and she slammed her locker shut as she turned to face her friend. “Allison, be a dear and save me,” she said, rolling her eyes.

“Sorry, she’s all yours,” Allison responded, smiling. “At least you’ve got your favorite class before _it_ _ begins _ ,” she teased, making her voice sound ominous. “You’ve got this, Lydia, just don’t be too much of a bitch.” To others her bluntness may be jarring, but the two girls had a special bond, and this was simply the way they talked to one another. Besides, pretty much everyone knew that Lydia could be the baddest bitch of them all when she wanted to. 

Allison gave her friend one last smile before turning away from her, heading to class just as the bell began to ring. Lydia sighed and rolled her neck before marching down the hall with purpose, her heels clacking against the tile floors and her arm swinging murderously.

Calculus, for the first time in Lydia’s life, flew by. She knew it was because she specifically wanted it to stretch on forever, putting off the inevitable meeting with the new girl, but that didn’t make her appreciate it at all. After the teacher gave out the homework assignment for the night, Lydia immediately got to her feet, wanting to make it to her meeting before her partner. As she walked toward Coach Finstock’s office, she heard her phone chirp and looked down to see a text from Allison and scoffed to herself as she responded: 

_ A: She’s talking to Scott’s little group. Her name’s Malia. _

_ L: Oh joy, she’s being adopted by the loser trio. _

_ A: Good luck! _

Not in the mood to dignify Allison with a response, Lydia opened snapchat and started taking selfies, including various captions about her unhappiness at the situation. Sure, she was glad she didn’t have to help pick up trash from public parks or some other dirty work, but her talents were  _ much  _ better suited to something other than tutoring a transfer student. Just as she took the last selfie, Lydia’s new companion stepped into the room, and Lydia had to stop herself from snorting when the girl visibly tensed up at the sight of her. Lydia couldn’t read her expression, whether it was anger or fear, but she liked that she rattled the girl.

“Oh, hi. You must be my tutor,” the girl said, a forced smile straining her face. A blush was rising to her cheeks and Lydia was admittedly surprised by that.

“It looks that way,” Lydia said, placing her phone in her bag. She pulled out the service learning form that the guidance office had given her, that she had taken the liberty of filling out herself. “Lydia Martin. And what do they call you?”

The rest of the meeting went quickly, and Lydia was relieved when it was over. She promptly picked up her bags and left, wanting to savor the last day of her freedom before tutoring began after the weekend. As she got into Jackson’s car in the parking lot, he smirked at her.

"How'd it go with Beacon Hills's newest loser?"

"As expected," Lydia said, thankful that her boyfriend wasn't the best at reading her. He shook his head and started driving as Lydia  pulled her phone out to text Allison.

_ L: She may be cuter than I first thought. _

_ A: Told you so. I know you well. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This fic is going to be Malydia-centric through and through, but in addition to background Scira, there's going to be some Stallison and a sprinkling of Scott/Stiles/Kira. Stiles and Allison have been in a purely physical relationship for a few months, hidden from their respective friends, but they will slowly be built up throughout the fic, and I'm not going to spoil how their relationship will evolve! The Scott/Stiles/Kira is going to come from Stiles's unrequited feelings toward Scott and a drunken evening when the three of them realize they're closer than most friends. All of which is to come in future chapters, but I wanted to tease the story a bit and explain the updated tags! :-)
> 
> Also to note: Jackson is a dick in canon, so I'm going to be writing him according to that. I appreciate that in canon he did improve in season 2, but given that this fic doesn't include any of the werewolfy-ness of the show, I don't see Jackson going down that path.


	3. Chapter 3

As the alarm clock went off bright and early, reading 5:45 AM, Malia groaned and rolled onto her stomach, flopping her arm out to come down on the infernal device. The weekend had gone by much too fast, and Malia was dreading practically every aspect of the day ahead of her.

Dragging herself out of bed, she made her way to the closet to pick out the outfit of the day, and went with a set of overalls and a t-shirt. Simplicity was her thing, even if it wasn’t necessarily the most fashionable.

“Hey, Malia? You gonna be okay to get to school on your own?” Her dad asked as he poked his head in through her open doorway. “I’m running late for work, gotta get going. Good luck, and try to stay positive about that tutoring session! Love you!”

Malia rubbed her tired eyes as she heard him leave, and she grabbed her bag before heading to her car, but hesitated in starting it, instead clunking her head down onto the steering wheel. Slowly but surely, she made her way to school, her brain numb before the day even really started. It was a Monday to define all Mondays.

“Hiya, cutie!” Malia heard, and swung her head around, unsure of whether or not the compliment was aimed at her. Her face lit up when she saw Kira walking up, her hand laced together with Scott’s, who was trailing after her.

“Happy Monday,” Scott said, bags under his eyes. Malia couldn’t help but wonder if part of his tiredness was from late night activites with his girlfriend. Kira was quite chipper for a Monday, but Malia figured it was just her personality.

“I wouldn’t call it happy,” Malia said as they made their way into the building. “Where’s Stiles?”

“Oh he’ll be here, no worries. He likes to cut it as close as possible to school starting. Why, you interested?” Scott asked, nudging her side.

“Ha! Um, no, he’s cute but he’s not exactly my type. I proudly go for the ladies.”

“He’ll be most upset to hear that, he told us he thought you were hot,” Kira said, smiling at Malia. “But he’ll get over it. Personally I think he’s better off single, he can focus on himself even better.”  
  
“How do you know he’s single?” Malia asked as she noticed someone who looked suspiciously like him sneaking into an empty classroom, avoiding his friends’ gazes. Apparently he didn’t notice that Malia was watching him.

“He would never keep something like that from us, trust me,” Scott said. “He’s like my brother, we don’t keep secrets about our love lives. Now, enough about him, if he’s not here then he shouldn’t be a part of the conversation. What classes do you have?”

* * *

  
The day went by quickly after Malia’s pre-class discussion with her new friends, and she couldn’t help but feel like this Monday wasn’t as bad as she’d originally thought it was. It turned out that she had two classes with the trio - Algebra and U.S. History - while she was on her own in English, Chemistry, and Spanish. Time ticked by as the day finally came to a close, and Malia felt as prepared as she could for the tutoring session ahead of her. She made her way to the library, but hesitated when she heard Lydia talking to someone.

  
“Sorry I can’t hang out tonight, I’m on Loser Duty,” she said, and Malia surmised that was who Lydia referred to the tutoring sessions. She stepped back, not wanting to hear anymore, when Allison walked out. Malia glanced up and was surprised when Allison gave her a small smile. It was nothing more than polite, but it was better than anything Lydia had afforded her, and they’d interacted much more. Malia smiled in response and nodded her head slightly, signaling that she was amiable. She took a deep breath before forcing herself to enter the library.

“You’re late,” Lydia said without even looking up. She was already set up at their usual table, books spread out so that she could easily point out equations and explanations. Malia took her seat opposite the redhead and decided to just pretend Lydia was a robot, programmed simply to tutor and nothing else. She wasn’t looking for a friend, so she would try to stop expecting Lydia to act like one.

As the hour was coming to a close, Malia slid her final problem sheet over to Lydia and waited for her to grade it. She had a fancy red pen that she used, and Malia dreaded the marks it would make. Just as Lydia began to put the pen to the paper, though, Jackson suddenly appeared behind her and wrapped her in a hug. He rested his head on her shoulder and Lydia closed her eyes, smiling, and leaned her head back onto him.

“I’m sure Malia did a great job,” Jackson said, giving her a smirk. “How about you two wrap up this little playdate and we can all enjoy an early day off.”

“As fun as that sounds,” Malia started, huffing a little in irritation, “I really need to work hard on this unit and Lydia hasn’t really finished explaning these concepts.” Her words fell on deaf ears, however, as they were full-on making out now. Malia rolled her eyes and tried to ignore the heat rising to her cheeks, blaming it on embarrasment at their PDA and not on her own feelings. She quickly grabbed her things and swept them into her bag, not bothering to keep everything straight.

A few tears rose to her eyes, out of anger or jealousy she wasn’t sure, but she wanted desperately to get out of the crowd in the hallway. She kept her head down to hide her face and pushed into the closest janitor’s closet, looking for more solitude than the bathroom would give her. She looked up and realized she wasn’t alone.

“Oh, uh, Malia! What’re you doing here?” Stiles asked, his face a fierce shade of red.

“Hiding…” Malia started, her voice drawn out. She wasn’t even sure what to say, how to react to the situation in front of her. 

Allison was standing a little behind Stiles, her shirt on the floor, and her arms crossed over her chest to shrink into herself. She brought her eyes up to meet Malia’s and gave her that same smile from before, but with a little bit of embarrasment injected in. Stiles’s shirt was still on, but Malia noticed that his pants were undone, belt hanging loosely.

Nobody moved or spoke for what felt like an eternity.

“I can go,” Malia said, trying hard not to look anywhere specific. She threw her thumb over her shoulder to signal where she was going, but Stiles reached out a hand to stop her.

“Would you mind not saying anything?” he asked. He offered no explanation but Malia knew what he meant.

“Course not, it’s none of my business what, or who, you get up to.” She offered him a smile and turned to leave again before she heard Allison speak up.

“Thanks,” she said. Her voice sounded guarded, like she was going to continue, but she seemed to choose not to.

“No problem,” Malia said, squeezing back out the door, closing it behind her. She took a deep breath and leaned back against it, trying to collect her thoughts. Deciding to just go home to clear her head, she walked out of the school, trying to pretend like nothing had happened. Trying to pretend that one of her friends, who apparently was in love with Scott, was also boning her enemy’s best friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for this being so short, but it's been almost a year since I last wrote and I wanted to get back into the swing of things gradually!


End file.
